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Presidential Address
Section : JAINA ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Prof. UMAKANT P. SHAH
Distinguished Guests, Pandit Dalsukhbhai Malvania, Dr. Sagarmalji; and friends,
The Parshvanatha Vidyashrama Research Institute deserves our congratulations for completing fifty years of valuable service to the cause of Jainism and Prakrit Studies. We offer our best wishes for its bright future. I am thankful to the organisers of this Conference and
Research Institute for asking me to preside over the deliberations of this Section on Jaina Art and Architecture. With your cooperation and good wishes I hope I shall be able to fulfil this difficult task, even though I cannot claim to be a great master of Indian Art and Architectural studies.
Since the beginning of modern Indological studies in the last century, Jainism, especially Jaina Art and Architecture, did not so much attract the world of scholars as did Buddhism and Buddhist Art and Architecture. There were reasons for this in difference. Buddhist monks, from ancient times, could travel beyond the borders of India and spread the message of the Buddha in several countries of Asia. So Buddhist Art is found in several countries of Asia and could soon attract the attention of modern Western Scholars. The Jaina monks were not allowed to cross the oceans by means of boats nor could they use vehicles to go to distant places. Jainism and its art practically remained confined within the borders of India. Also, in the early stage of modern Indological studies by foreign scholars some scholars mistakenly suspected that Jainism was only an offshoot of Buddhism. But the contribution of Jainism to Indian Philosophy, literature, etc. was gradually realised and it is now acknowledged that without a deeper study of Jaina literature (both Sanskrit and Prakrit) and Art, history of Indian Art and Culture cannot be fully reconstructed.
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